2019 SURVEY OF
Program Graduates
HIGHER EDUCATION VIDEO GAME ALLIANCE

rapid growth, supported research, diversity, and success of games
FROM THE The
programs in academia over the past two decades never ceases to amaze me.
fusion of multiple fields and approaches, games programs provide us
PRESIDENT Aswitha key
many insights into understanding human beings and their interactions,and ways of appreciating and investigating the world around us. They teachus about the meaning and impact of play, engage us in self-reflection,encourage empathy, and inspire our inquiry into the sciences, the arts, thehumanities, and their intersection. Research in games in higher education
has bloomed into a multifaceted and transdisciplinary field that is innovative,
diverse, and ever imaginative. It is tackling big questions about the workingsof social structure and solving equally visceral personal problems. At its core,
education helps shape the adults that will build tomorrow, and gives them theknowledge and resources to be productive in ways that are meaningful forthem and for a global society.
The following report is a reflection of that vision. It examines what ourstudents are doing during their time at colleges and universities, provides
a window into their experiences as graduates, and reveals the real-world
impact games education has on their lives in their own words. It examines
where they have gone, what they have done, the industries they are
impacting, and the myriad of ways they are contributing to the world of
our future. This examination reflects the core of HEVGA’s mission and ourcommitment to the well-being of our programs and students. Throughthis report, we are excited to share the collective successes of our alumni
and information about their experiences after graduation. It is personally
gratifying every time we are able to release such material, as it highlights
HEVGA’s key role in observing and reporting the overall trends, issues,and practices of games in higher education, with an aim toward
continual improvement.
In order to make this report a reality, HEVGA has had the help of a truly
phenomenal set of people: the Survey Committee, Sean Gouglas (Chair) andKenzie Gordon (Project Manager) from the University of Alberta for heading
up the survey and report, as well as the entire committee for their incredible
efforts; the Entertainment Software Association for their engagement,
assistance, and support; Jonathan Elmergreen, our Executive Director, for
his unwavering commitment to our work and practice; and HEVGA’s Board of
Directors for their ongoing leadership and oversight.
I hope that this report is useful to you in your own work, in deliberations withcolleagues, in consultations with administration, in negotiations with policy
makers, and more. And as always, I welcome your thoughts and feedback as
we continue to support the work of you, our members and institutions, andthe programs and students you serve.
Sincerely,
Andrew Phelps
President{ FROM THE PRESIDENT } 02∆

Higher Education Video Game Alliance’s (HEVGA) mission is to create
ABOUT Thea platform for higher education leaders which will underscore the cultural,and economic importance of video game programs in colleges and
HEVGA scientific,
universities. The key is to create a robust network of resources—including
unified advocacy, policymaker engagement, media coverage, and externalfunding—in order to incubate and harness the impact of this community in a
21st century learning environment.
Executive Committee
Andrew Phelps, President
Rochester Institute of Technology
Lindsay Grace, Vice President
University of Miami
Drew Davidson
Carnegie Mellon University
Mirjam P. Eladhari
Södertörn University
Katherine Isbister
University of California, Santa Cruz
Jonathan Elmergreen
Executive Director
Survey Committee
Sean Gouglas, Chair
University of Alberta
Kenzie Gordon
University of Alberta{ ABOUT HEVGA } 03∆

games provide meaningful interactive experiences that inform,
EXECUTIVE Video
educate, and entertain. The multi-billion dollar video game industry employsof thousands of people. Universities and colleges around the
SUMMARY hundreds
world offer courses, programs, and degrees in video game design,
production, and study.
A survey of almost 400 graduates of games programs from colleges anduniversities found the following:∆ Salaries for graduates of university and college games programs are higher
than for those with similar education, and much higher than for the
average American.
∆ Graduates find employment in a wide variety of jobs within the gameindustry. They also find numerous opportunities outside the game industry,
which reflects the broad applicability of skills developed in games programs.
∆ Games programs continue to adapt to changing technological needs
and industry demands. Most students have access to internships
and practicums.
∆ Students are less likely to be White than those in the US population.
Generally, African Americans are still underrepresented.
∆ Students are much more likely to identify as LGBTQ+ than the
average American.
There remain some significant challenges to graduates’ success in thegame industry:∆ Women’s job satisfaction drops off quickly—most notably after two years ofworking in the industry. This is a critical concern that must be addressed.
∆ Graduates who pursue self-employment in the games industry report lower
work satisfaction than those employed in companies.
∆ Games industry workers who are members of marginalized communities
continue to note barriers to inclusion in the workplace.
∆ HEVGA received few international responses to the survey, which will
require specific attention in future surveys.

{ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY } 04∆

a survey of alumni of higher education video games programs,
INTRODUCTION Through
HEVGA aims to understand whether higher education in video games
translates well into future participation in the industry. This report analyzes
responses from a survey conducted in 2018, which asked graduates of video
games programs at universities and colleges about their academic programsand experiences in the workplace after graduation. This survey is a follow-up
to HEVGA’s 2015 report, titled Priming the Pump.
Topics covered in the current survey include coursework and program
requirements, transition to the workplace, employment outcomes,
and general demographic data. The survey gathered responses in twophases: Phase One was conducted in May and June 2018 and Phase Two
in September and October 2018. For each phase, an email request forparticipation was sent to HEVGA members, who were asked to forward
the survey to graduates of their game-related programs. There were 387
complete responses to the survey, mostly from the United States.
The core survey asked about academic coursework, employment status,
and attitudes toward employment in the video games industry. An additional
survey component asked participants if they identified with specificmarginalized communities and how this shaped their experiences in thevideo games industry. Given the sensitive nature of this data, responses tothese questions were anonymized and isolated from the core survey andthe demographic information, and have been analyzed separately.

{ INTRODUCTION } 05∆

{
PEOPLE}

Video game programs acrossthe world attract students
from all walks of life. In the
United States, graduatesof games programs are
ethnically diverse. They arealso much more likely toidentify as LGBTQ+ than therest of the population, which
is a pattern that is consistent
with other studies of thegames industry.

{ PEOPLE } 06∆

PeopleA total of 387 participants
completed the 2019 Surveyof Program Graduates. These
individuals identified themselves
as having completed or being
in the process of completing avideo-game-based program at
a post-secondary institution.
The participants included bothundergraduate and graduate
students.
The vast majority of respondents(89%) lived in the United States
when they completed the survey.
The second largest group lived in
Sweden (6%). We received a small
number of responses from a hostof other countries and politicalentities, including Bangladesh,
Canada, China, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Georgia, Ireland, Latvia,
South Korea, and Taiwan.

AGE

Perhaps not surprisingly, given the age at which people traditionally finishhigh school, most respondents to the survey were under 30 years old. In fact,
as seen in Figure 1, 75% of respondents reported being between the agesof 22-30. Those between 31-40 accounted for 20% of our respondents andthose between 41-50 accounted for 3%. Another 3% of our respondents
reported their age as between 17-21.
FIGURE 1: Age of respondents
YEARS

3%
75%

17-21
22-30

20%

31-40

3%

41-50

% OF RESPONDENTS

GENDER

Most of the respondents identified as a man (70%), which is slightly lower
than the rate reported in the 2015 HEVGA Survey (73%). There was ahigher rate of respondents who identified as a woman in this survey(26%) compared with the 2015 survey (22%). Approximately 2% of
respondents identified as non-binary, genderqueer, and/or third
gender. Another 2% did not answer.
In a separate anonymous question not tied to the otherdemographic questions, we asked respondents “Do you
identify as a transgender person?” The responses can befound in Table 1. Most people (76%) stated that they did not
identify as a transgender person. 72% identified as cisgender,a term used when an individual’s gender identity matches
the sex they were assigned at birth. 4% indicated they did not
identify as either cisgender or transgender.
A little over 10% of respondents identified as transgender—including
as a transgender man, a transgender woman, or as "non-binary,genderqueer, and/or third gender."{ PEOPLE } 07∆

TABLE 1: Do you identify as a transgender person?
Response% of respondents

No, I am cisgender72%

No, I am not cisgender, but do not identify as transgender

4%

Yes, I am a transgender woman

1%

Yes, I am a transgender man

6%

Yes, I am non-binary, genderqueer, and / or third gender and identify as transgender3%

Prefer not to say

9%None of the above

3%

Approximately 20% of respondents
identified as LGBTQ+. When
compared with data gathered inlarge nationwide surveys, this issignificantly higher than the national
average of approximately 4% to 5%
for LGBTQ+ individuals in the
United States.
The high percentage of LGBTQ+
respondents in comparison with thegeneral US population should not bedismissed as a statistical anomaly.
Other studies that examine the sexual
orientation and gender identity of
individuals in the games industry
have found similar distributions. The
IGDA Developer Satisfaction Survey
for 2017 Summary Report indicatedthat 25% of those who responded
to their survey identified as LGBTQ+.
Previous years of IGDA reports
describe similar percentages. It is
possible that there are factors at playthat attract LGBTQ+ individuals to thevideo games industry.

Methodological circumstances
may also explain the difference.
For example, the percentage of
those who identify as LGBTQ+
is consistently higher among
young people, which would alignwith the younger nature of oursample. Furthermore, our survey
guaranteed the anonymity of
the respondents. Surveys wheresuch assurances are put in place
tend to have higher rates ofpeople identifying as LGBTQ+.
As part of the same question,
we gave respondents who
did not identify as LGBTQ+ the
opportunity to indicate that they werean LGBTQ+ ally. Approximately 20%
of respondents chose this option.
Another 6% of respondents preferred
not to answer.

{ PEOPLE } 08∆

TABLE 2: Reported ethnicityof American respondents

Ethnicity% of
respondents

Asian

17%

Black/
AfricanAmerican7%

Latinx16%

MiddleEastern

1%

Mixed

6%

NativeAmerican

1%

White

54%

ETHNICITY

Given the small number of
respondents from other countries,
this report focuses only on the selfreported ethnicity of respondents
based in the United States. Most of the
respondents to our survey were White(54%). Those who identified as being of
Asian descent were 17% of respondents, while
those of Latinx descent were 16% of respondents.
Black or African-American individuals made up 7%. Less
than one percent of respondents identified as either Middle Easternor Native American.
When reporting their ethnicity, respondents could choose more than one
option. Approximately 6% of people identified as being of “Mixed” ethnicity.
Most frequently, individuals of mixed ethnicity identified as being White andone other ethnicity.
Compared with the overall US population, the 2019 Survey of Program
Graduates had a significantly lower number of Whites (54% versus 76.6%),
a higher percentage of Asians (17% versus 5.8%), a similar number of Latinx(17% versus 18.1%), and a lower number of Black or African Americans(7% versus 13.4%).
There were notable differences with respect to the ethnicity of respondents
between the 2015 HEVGA Survey and the results of the 2019 survey. The
2019 survey had approximately 20% fewer White respondents. This is aremarkable difference, which could reflect changes in admissions togames programs across the US. Alternatively, it could be asampling discrepancy, especially considering that the 2019
survey had approximately twice as many participants.
There was an increase of 11% for respondents
identifying as Latinx and an increase of 8% for thoseof Asian descent. There was a slightly more than
1% increase in respondents who identified asBlack or African-American.

MENTAL AND PHYSICAL
DIFFERENCES

Participants in the survey were invited toself-report whether they had a mental and/or physical difference. Approximately 20%
of respondents reported that they did. Almost
every person responded to this question. This rate
is a little lower than the one reported in the IGDA
Developer Satisfaction Survey 2017 Summary Report.

{ PEOPLE } 09∆

Digging Deeper
There is some evidence to suggest that the percentage of women in the overall
cohort of students in games-related programs is gradually increasing. Out of
those who graduated in 2008, the percentage of women was 14%, comparedwith the 33% of those who graduated in 2018.
Despite concerted efforts to recruit
non-American respondents, mostof the participants to the survey
came from the United States. As
such, the demographic informationof our respondents mostly
reflected patterns associated withthat country. Interestingly, boththis survey and the 2015 HEVGA
Survey also demonstrated a strong
presence of respondents from
Sweden. This pattern is a testament
to the strength of the Swedish
games education community andthe robustness of professional
networks between HEVGA and theschools there.
These results suggest that future
surveys might benefit from improved
strategies aimed at increasing
responses from graduates in othercountries. For example, there exists
much room for building connections
in Canada, considering that only one
person from Canada responded tothe survey, despite the country’s
position as one of the major players
in both game development andgames education. It might also bebeneficial to learn more about theexperiences of American alumni
living and working in other countries.

of LGBTQ+ communities in gamedevelopment and design. Additional
research needs to be done to
examine the experiences of
LGBTQ+ students as theywork their way throughgames programs, in order
to interrogate the specificbarriers and opportunities
these students face when
they enter the workforce.
Only 28% of non-LGBTQ+
respondents identified as an
LGBTQ+ ally. This rate seems
low, especially considering rates
reported for similar age groups in
the Harris Poll survey of LGBTQ+
acceptance. The low rate may havebeen influenced by the structure of
the questions. The question about
being an ally should have been
separated as its own question,rather than as an option within thegeneral LGBTQ+ question: “No, but
I identify as an LGBTQ+ ally.” Moreclarity in the question would be
beneficial in future investigations.

The remarkably high level of LGBTQ+
respondents, at least in comparison
with reported rates in the US, is well
worth investigating more thoroughly.
As mentioned before, the resultsin this survey match previous
work done on the participation{ PEOPLE } 10∆{SCHOOL}The number of game design,
game development, and gamestudies programs offered atcolleges and universities has
exploded over the past ten
years. There are thousandsof courses, certificates,
diplomas, and degrees atboth the undergraduate andgraduate level. Internships,
practicums, and capstone
courses are often importantparts of these programs, andthe majority of respondents
participated in them.

{ SCHOOL } 11∆

Technical training centers,
community colleges, and large
universities alike have implemented
games courses and programs. The
total number of these offerings is
considerable. In the US alone, over
520 institutions offered 1200+
game-related programs and degrees
in 2018. An even greater number
offered courses, but no program ordegree. Meanwhile, the number ofgames-related programs in postsecondary institutions in Canada
has increased ninefold over the
past decade.

Production, and Game Programming.
Animation, Level Design, and 3D
Modeling were also popular.

COURSESPROGRAMS

Table A1 (found in the Appendix)
provides the total number of courses
taken by respondents arranged
by frequency. With respect tospecific courses, respondents mostcommonly reported participating
in classes on Game Design, GameInterestingly, fewer students
reported taking critical game studies
courses, compared with those in
the 2015 HEVGA Survey. Given theremarkable challenges the games
industry is facing in terms of equity,
marginalization, and labor conditions,this could be a worrying trend.
Further research into the changing
nature of course requirements ingames programs seems warranted.
Survey respondents reported a
dizzying array of diplomas anddegrees. Table A2 (found in the
Appendix) provides a detailed
comparison between the 2015
and 2019 surveys on the typesof degrees that respondents

received or expected to receive.
The percentage of respondents
pursuing Bachelor of Arts degrees
increased from 13% to 20%, while
those pursuing Bachelor of Science
degrees increased from 11% to 18%.

GRADUATE DEGREES

Graduate degrees in game studies
appear to have declined in popularity
between the 2015 and the 2019
reports. With the exception of Masterof Arts degrees which increased
from 2% to 7%, there were fewer
respondents pursuing Master’s andDoctorate degrees in game-relatedareas compared with those in 2015.
The general improvement in theeconomy over this time may havebeen a factor in this decline, withmore people entering the workforce
shortly after graduation, rather thanpursuing further education.

Experiential Learning
Anecdotal evidence suggested that the inclusion of work-related components ofgames programs, such as internships and practicums, had become increasingly
popular. The survey asked participants to indicate whether such opportunities
were optional or required in their program.
INTERNSHIPS

57% of respondents reported that
their program included an internshipopportunity, with 32% indicatingthat the internship was a mandatorycomponent of their program.
Almost half (46%) of respondents
stated that they had completed aninternship during their program.
10% of respondents reported
that they were not sure or did notknow if their program offered aninternship component.

PRACTICUM

44% of respondents reported
that their program included someform of practicum, with 28% of all
respondents indicating that they had
completed one. Of those programs
reported to offer a practicum, 50%
required participation for successful
completion of the program.

CAPSTONE PROJECT

76% of respondents reported that
their program included some formof a capstone course, with 74% of
all respondents saying that they had
completed one. 70% stated that thecapstone was mandatory for theirprogram, with 18% stating that they
had completed an optional
capstone project.

{ SCHOOL } 12

∆

{
SHIFT
}

For both students andinstitutions, the transition
to work is a key measure of
personal and institutional
success. For graduates, theshift from school to workmarks a significant turning
point in their lives. Industry
draws on higher education
games programs for its
employees. For universities
and colleges, the shift fromschool to work is part of theprocess of preparing students
for life after graduation.

{ SHIFT } 13∆

Employment

From the data presented in Table
3, it is reasonable to conclude that
respondents engaged in multiple
forms of work. For example, of the
251 respondents who described theirwork as full-time, 34 also indicatedthat they did contract work on topof their employment (9% of theentire sample).
With respect to employment type,the percentages did not change
significantly from the 2015 survey,
although the previous survey did not
explicitly ask about contract work.
At the time of the survey, 62
respondents stated that they werecurrently unemployed. Of thosepeople, 14 indicated that they had
been employed at one point since
graduation. Five out of the 14 hadworked in the games industry.

ARE YOU EMPLOYED?

YEARS

17-21
(n=10)

0%

19%
22-30
(n=282)

8%

92%

100%

NO

81%

YES

30%

Of those in the 2019 survey
who reported being employed,
approximately 77% had full-time
work, 16% had part-time work, and
5% were self-employed (see Table 3).
12% indicated that they had
secured contract work.

FIGURE 2: Percentage of employed respondents by age

70%

84% of respondents stated thatthey were currently employed.
This included full-time, parttime, and contract work, as well
as self-employment. The rate of
employment increased with the ageof respondents. For example, 70% of
the youngest cohort of respondents
reported being employed comparedwith 100% of the oldest cohort.

31-40(n=77)

41-50(n=10)TABLE 3: Percentage of respondents
WHAT BEST DESCRIBES YOUR CURRENT EMPLOYMENT?

Type of employment

2015

2019*

Full-time

78%

77%

Part-time

16%

16%

Self Employed6%

5%

Contract

-

12%

Count

176

371

*Percentages do not total 100 as respondents could indicate multiple types of work.

{ SHIFT } 14∆

Finding WorkInternships did not prove to be asure-fire way to find work after
graduation. Although 46% ofrespondents reported completing aninternship, only 12% of respondents
attributed finding employment
through those internships.

More often, graduates found workthrough other means. As seenin Figure 3, more than half ofgraduates found work either throughprofessional connections (26%) or
through online job searches (24%).
Approximately 16% of graduateswere directly recruited into the jobs,
while an additional 12% had successthrough a career fair. Only one
person found work through social
media. One other person found workthrough a company’s website.

FIGURE 3: Mechanisms by which respondents found employment as percentage
Career Fair
Company Websites

12%
<1%

Internship

12%

Online Job Search Engines

24%

Professional Connections

26%

Recruited16%

Self-employment

5%

Self-recommendation

1%

Social Media<1%

Word of Mouth

4%% OF RESPONDENTS

FINDING WORK IN SPECIFIC OCCUPATIONSThe specific manner by which respondents found work varied by the type of job they found.

DESIGNERS

Most likely to findwork throughinternships (22%),almost twice therate of all othertypes of jobs.

PRODUCERS

Most likely to findwork throughprofessional
connections (29%)
or be recruited
directly (21%).

ARTISTS

Most likely to findwork through online
job searches (30%)
or through aninternship (17%).

PROGRAMMERS

Most likely to find workthrough job ads (22%),
professional contacts(25%), and direct
recruitment (25%).

QUALITY
ASSURANCE

Most likely to findwork throughonline ads (42%).

{ SHIFT } 15
{ SHIFT } 14∆∆

Digging Deeper
89% of those who completed an internship reported being employed,compared with only 76% of those who did not. Only 12% of those whocompleted an internship at a company found work at the same company.
26% of respondents reported
finding employment throughprofessional connections, indicatingthat graduates found work throughconnections made during theirinternships. This may indicate thatstudents find significant value inthe professional connections madeduring their internships.

Compared with the 2015 HEVGA
Survey, the rate of employed
respondents had fallen from 91%
to 84%. As the unemployment ratein the United States has gone down
between the time of the two surveys,
this decline in employment isdifficult to explain. It is possible that
employment in the games industry
has declined in general over thissame period, though governmentproduced numbers for this exact
time are difficult to secure. Survey
methodologies or samples may also
have influenced these numbers.

{ SHIFT } 16

∆

{
WORK
}

Graduates from games
programs are paid well, earning
substantially more than
the national average in the
United States. Participants
are generally quite satisfied
with their employment. In
fact, they seem significantly
more satisfied with theirpositions than the cohort that
responded to the 2015 survey.
There remain real challenges,
however, for LGBTQ+ people andwomen within the industry intheir search for the same levelof acceptance.
{ WORK} 17∆

Finding Work

Figure 4 shows the distributionof salary levels for all employed
respondents, including those
doing part-time work.

% of respondents

Under $20,000

12%$20,000-$40,000

17%$40,001-$60,000

22%$60,001-$80,000

21%$80,001-$100,000

14%$100,001-$120,000

5%Over $120,000

7%$72,200

FIGURE 4: Average salary of all respondents by age cohort$61,500

The decline in salary for the next
oldest cohort can potentially be
explained by the small sample size,
as only three people in this cohort
reported on their salaries. However,qualitative evidence indicates asignificant bias against older adults
working in junior positions in thegames industry.

Annual income$76,200

As seen in Figure 4, salaries steadily
increased, except for the oldest
cohort. For example, the youngest
cohort of respondents (17-21 years)
earned an average salary of $40,000,
while those between the ages of 3140 earned approximately $76,200.

TABLE 4: Annual income reported by respondents$57,500

Compared with workers with similar
education outcomes, game program
alumni seemed to earn slightly
more, though exact comparisonsproved challenging. For example,
respondents between 22 and 30
years of age earned an average of$57,500 per year. In comparison,starting salaries for all postsecondary graduates in the US in
2018 were reported as $50,390.

Across the survey sample, women on average earned $61,750.
Men, on average, earned $59,730.

$40,000

For those based in the UnitedStates, the average salary of all
employed survey participants was$61,000. The distribution of salaries
for all respondents can be seen in
Table 4. For full-time workers, theaverage salary was $68,000. This issignificantly higher than the mediansalary of all American workers,
which is reported to be $36,300.
This average includes all workers,
regardless of education level.

YEARS 17 - 21

22 - 30

31- 4041 - 50

All{ WORK} 18∆

PLACE OF EMPLOYMENTA number of interesting points emerged when examining where respondents
were currently working. First, most employed respondents (over 63%)
were still working in their first place of employment
since graduation.
Second, the training provided in games
programs seemed readily transferable
to other industries. Just over 36% of
employed respondents with degrees
in game-related programs foundwork outside the games industry.
These industries were relatively
diverse (see Table A3 in the
Appendix), but Technology (31%)
and Education (30%) were thetwo most common. Approximately
9% of respondents found work in
Government, Security, and Defense,
while 6% found work in the
Food Industry.
Third, the average salary of those who worked
in the video games industry but then left for a
job in another industry was $77,058. There were 18
such individuals in our survey. Interestingly, the average salary for those whostarted elsewhere but later got a job in the games industry was $48,333,
significantly less. Further research in this area is required to understandthe potential impact of age and cohort on these results.

JOB SATISFACTION

There were differences in how men and women aligned with the job
satisfaction statements. Men were much more likely to choose “Strongly
Agree” for the first three job satisfaction statements (located on the rightside of this page), whereas women were much more likely to choose “Agree.”With respect to “satisfaction with current employment,” men and womengave very similar responses.
There was a statistically significant correlation
between a respondent’s salary and their affirmative
responses to two of the four job satisfaction
questions: “amount of autonomy” (p = 0.006)
and “satisfaction with current employment”(p = 0.000). The correlation regarding
autonomy was lower (r = 0.19) than thecorrelation regarding satisfaction (r = .31).
The conclusion, perhaps not surprisingly, isfairly straightforward. Employees’ satisfaction
with the current position increases assalary increases.

According to the 2015
HEVGA Survey, 83% of
game-based program
alumni were classified as“thriving” in the workplace.
The 2019 survey also
shows that respondents
were very satisfied with
their career choice:
94% of respondents
agreed or strongly agreed
that they were “interested
and invested in the successof their co-workers andemployers.” This was a 16%
increase over the 2015
HEVGA Survey results.
88% of respondents
either agreed or strongly
agreed that they had “agood amount of autonomy
in their work,” an 18%
increase over 2015.
84% of respondents either
agreed or strongly agreed
that they felt “a sense of
purpose in the work they
do,” a 10% increasesince 2015.
76% of respondents
agreed or strongly
agreed that they were“satisfied with theircurrent employment,”
a 16% increase fromthe 2015 results.

{ WORK } 19∆

I think that today'ssociety including the entertainment
industry affects the LGBTQ community
more than ever before. Our community
has grown, and gets more support andacceptance, so now we can rise up andspeak out and show that we are not afraidof our own identity. I think this will
impact not only entertainment
but other industries as well.

NO

Strongly
Agree

Agree

Undecided

13%
1%(n=179)(n=118)Game Designer

9%

YES

35% of self-employed individuals
strongly agreed that they would
pursue the same career while
40% agreed. One quarter ofself-employed respondents reported
being undecided about whether
they would pursue the same career.
The lower rate may reflect thedifferent paths to success for the
self-employed, who face different
obstacles.

29%

30%
24%

CURRENTLYWORKING IN
THE VIDEO GAMEINDUSTRYThis stands in contrast withrespondents who were self-employedin the video games industry. They
too believed that they would pursue
the same career if they were to start
over, but their agreement was not asstrong as those who were employees.

5%

The choice to pursue the same career
if starting all over again was agreed
with more strongly by those currently
working in the games industry incomparison with those who worked
outside the industry. For thoseworking in the video games industry,a remarkable 89% of respondents
either strongly agreed (51%) or
agreed (38%) that they would pursue
the same career were they to startover (see Figure 5). This seems
to indicate that employers in thevideo games industry are providing
reasonable supports and opportunity
for career growth. This differs fromthose employed outside the games
industry. Only 54% strongly agreed(24%) or agreed (30%) that theywould pursue the same career.

38%

FIGURE 5: Percentage of
respondents answering, “If I
could start over, I would pursue
the same career I am in now.”

surprisingly, statistically significant(p = 0.050).

2%

An alternate approach to gauging
whether individuals were satisfied
with their career choices is to ask
whether they would pursue the same
career path if they were to startover. The majority of all respondents
agreed that if they could start over,they would pursue the same career.
Three quarters of respondents either
strongly agreed (40%) or agreed(35%) that they would pursue thesame career they are in now. This is
an increase over the 2015 HEVGA
Survey results, where only 66%
of respondents agreed with thestatement. Graduates of games
programs were generally pleased with
their career choices and their career
satisfaction has increased by 9%since the last survey. The relationshipbetween a desire to pursue the same
career and higher salaries was, not

51%

STARTING OVER

DisagreeStrongly
Disagree{ WORK } 20∆

Digging Deeper
When digging deeper into the data, quite a few
marked differences emerge in the types and rate of
employment of respondents.
THE VALUE OF A
GRADUATE DEGREEOf the 379 individuals who
responded to the question about
the type of degree they had, 134(35%) stated that they had a
Master’s or Doctorate degree. Thisis a significant number of graduate
degrees, but not that different fromthe US average, where advanced

degree holders constitute roughly
one-third of the total number of
those with a Bachelor’s degree.
Respondents with graduate degrees
were more likely to have foundemployment (89%) compared with
undergraduates (80%), though
there could be a cohort bias here,
as those with graduate degrees
were slightly older than those

JOB SATISFACTION
OVER TIME

FIGURE 6: Percentage of respondents by years since graduation who said,“Yes, the video games industry would be my first choice for work.”

The number of respondents whostated that working in the video
games industry would be their first
choice for a job dropped significantly
the more years they spent in theindustry (see Figure 6). For example,
at five years since graduation, thepercentage of men who said that thevideo games industry would be theirfirst choice for employment was
64%, compared with 95% of men
who just graduated.

without them. In addition, those with
graduate degrees had a much higher
average salary than those without
them: $67,000 compared with
$58,400. There was no significant
difference between graduates andundergraduates as to whether they
were self-employed—both hoveraround 9%.

100%

Men
Women

80%

60%

Continued on next page.

40%

20%

0

1

2

3

4

5

YEARS SINCE GRADUATION{ WORK } 21∆

Women saw a much more precipitous decline, going from 85% to 40%. The
rate drops particularly quickly for women after two years of working
in the industry, falling from 90% one year after graduation to 64%
after two. There could be many reasons for this. One factor
might be the well-documented toxicity of some aspects of theindustry to women—a factor already covered in-depth byboth academics and games journalists.
It is also worth considering other factors that may be atplay. Further research on this topic could shed valuable
light on how people’s desire to work in a particular industry
changes over time, and whether the trend stabilizes or
potentially reverses over a longer period of time.

The survey invited individuals to self-identify as LGBTQ+, transgender,
and/or having a mental or physical difference. Perhaps not surprisingly, alarge percentage of respondents who did so also stated that their identity had
shaped their experiences in the industry.
In order to encourage confidence in the survey’s anonymity, we designed thesurvey in such a way that demographic information could not be linked toresponses about self-identification. As a result, the report can only extrapolate
on specific comments made in this section of the survey. Still, given the tenorof the comments submitted, it is clear that many individuals changed careersor employment based on reactions to their identity.
For example, out of those who identified as members of the LGBTQ+
community, 46% of respondents agreed that theirexperience in the games industry had been impacted
by their identity. For transgender respondents
the rate was even higher, with 53% indicating
this impact.
For participants who identified as having
mental or physical differences, 48% statedthat it impacted their experience in thegames industry. The survey asked about
the level and type of impact that having
a mental or physical difference has on
workplace experience in the video games
industry. 31% of respondents reported that
their mental or physical difference had either
a mild or significant positive impact, 30% statedthat it had little or no impact, and 34% reported thatit had either a mild or significant negative impact.

{ WORK } 22∆

order to provide more meaningful and robust data for policy makers andNEXT Ineducators,
HEVGA should prioritize the following activities in future surveys
of games program graduates:
STEPS∆ HEVGA should make explicit efforts to solicit more respondents fromcountries outside the United States to better understand the international
nature of games development and games education.

∆ HEVGA should study the experiences of self-employed graduates. The lower
work satisfaction for this group is concerning and it is possible that games
programs are not adequately preparing students for self-employed work.
∆ This survey has noted the decline in job satisfaction amongst women thelonger they stay in the industry. HEVGA should examine this issue and ask
graduates how their experiences might be improved.

{ NEXT STEPS } 23∆

APPENDIXTABLE A1: Total number of courses
taken by respondents arranged
by frequency

Course Name

Total

Game Design284Game Production

215

Game Programming

208

3D Modeling

188

Animation

164

Level Design

151

Project Management

146

Games and Society132

Game Research

131Interactive Storytelling/Creative Writing

129

Critical Game Studies

128

Project-Based Learning

127

Games and Learning

124

Business of Gaming

123

Graphics

115

Game Engine Scripting

113

Serious Games

102

Audio Design

97

Gamification

92

Game AI90

Visual Design

88

Virtual Reality/ Augmented Reality

83

Quality Assessment

82

Concept Art

79

Technical Writing

67

Fine Art

53

Music

50

Data Analytics

42

Game Platform Hardware Architecture

36{ APPENDIX } 24∆

APPENDIXTABLE A2: Summary ofdegree type as percentage
for 2015 and 2019,
arranged by program type2015
(n = 149)2019(n = 382)

Diploma, Certificate, or other 2 year
program

N/A

5%

Associate’s Degree1%1%

Associate’s Degree in Applied Science

N/A

1%

Bachelor’s Degree in Arts

13%

20%

Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts

N/A

6%

Bachelor’s Degree in Music

N/A

0%

Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science

10%

12%

Bachelor’s Degree in Science

11%

18%

Master’s Degree in Arts

2%

9%

Master’s Degree in Engineering0%0%Master’s Degree in Entertainment
Technology

9%5%Master’s Degree in Fine Arts

14%

6%

Master’s Degree in Interactive Technology

N/A

4%

Master’s Degree in Science

10%

8%

Master’s Degree in Computer Science6%2%

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

8%

1%Other or missing entries

13%

0%

Program type

{ APPENDIX } 25∆

APPENDIXTABLE A3: Industry of employment
reported by respondents in
non-video game industries

Current Position% ofRespondents

Advertising1%

Business and Finance

1%

Construction

1%

Consulting

2%

Customer Service

1%

Education

31%

Energy1%Entertainment

4%

Food Industry

6%

Government, Security and Defence

9%

Health Care

3%

Insurance

1%

Leisure1%

Lounge1%Marketing1%

Media and Entertainment3%

Non Profit

1%

Sales

1%

Technology

30%

Veterinary

1%{ APPENDIX } 26∆

22 incomplete or duplicate responses from the dataset.
FOOTNOTES ∆ WNotee removed
that many questions included a “check all that apply” option, which
results in response numbers that are higher than 387. Where appropriate,
the statistics presented are calculated using 387 as the sample number
which can result in total responses scoring higher than 387. Respondents
were free to not answer any particular question, which may change thenumber of responses we have for particular questions. We chose topresent whole numbers when reporting percentages in this report. Dueto this, total percentages presented in tables may not total 100% due torounding. Respondents were compensated with a small gift card. We makecomparisons between this report and the 2015 HEVGA Survey. We corrected
quotations from respondents for typos and grammar.
PEOPLE∆ Frank Newport. "In U.S., Estimate of LGBT Population Rises to 4.5%."
Gallup. 22 May 2018. https://news.gallup.com/poll/234863/estimate-lgbtpopulation-rises.aspx∆ US Census Bureau, 2010 Census. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/
table/US/PST045218∆ "Accelerating Acceptance 2017. A Harris Poll survey of Americans’
acceptance of LGBTQ+ people." https://www.glaad.org/files/aa/2017_
GLAAD_Accelerating_Acceptance.pdf.
SCHOOL∆ Computer Games and Canada's Digital Economy: The Role of Universities
in Promoting Innovation. Report presented to the Social Science andHumanities Research Council. December 2010. Ottawa, Canada; and Beyer,J., Borynec, A., Budac, A., Chen, Y., Salvador Dias, L., Gordon, K., Kane, Z.,
Kuznetsova, J., Owino, A., Peter, C., Gouglas, S. “California Gamin’: The Stateof Californian Formal Education in Video Games,” Conference Paper at
Canadian Game Studies Association Conference, May 2018, Regina, SK.
WORK∆ Korn Ferry. "High Demand, Low Reward: Salaries for 2018 College
Graduates." 14 May 2018. https://www.kornferry.com/press/high-demandlow-reward-salaries-for-2018-college-graduates-flat-korn-ferryanalysis-shows∆ We did not include the average salaries for those who did not identify
as a man or a woman because the sample size was too small.

{ FOOTNOTES } 27∆

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS∆ Research Assistants at the University of Alberta: Sonja Sapach, Yang Chen,
Anna Borynec, Evgeniya Kuznetsova, Antony Owino, Zhenyan Liu,
Luisa Salvador Dias, and Cate Peter.
∆ Refiguring Innovation in Games (ReFiG), a project supported by theSocial Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
∆ The Entertainment Software Association for their assistance and support,
as well as their national data on games-based schools in the United States(AreWeInYourState.com).
∆ HEVGA's Diversity Committee, particularly co-chairs Alison Harvey& Phill Alexander and committee member Bonnie Ruberg.
∆ HEVGA’s Advisory Board: Mark DeLoura, Kate Edwards, and Susanna Pollack.
∆ HEVGA’s European Council: Mirjam Eladhari, Jussi Holopainen, William Huber,
Hartmut Koenitz, Adam Mayes, Torill Mortensen, Jaakko Stenros,and Georgios N. Yannakakis.
∆ Constance Steinkuehler, who served as HEVGA's President from 2014–2017
and oversaw the 2015 Survey. Without her vision, leadership, and public
service, HEVGA would not exist.
∆ Tracy Fullerton, who served as HEVGA's Vice-President from 2014–2016
and was also integral to the launch of the 2015 survey.
∆ Jennifer MacLean at the IGDA.
∆ Jon Roketenetz at 3VERB for survey implementation.
∆ Kelly Skinner at Friday Design & Photography.
∆ JoAnne Burek at J Burek Indexing Services.
∆ Countless colleagues who have provided feedback at conferences,member meetings, on phone calls, and at HEVGA events.
∆ HEVGA’s members for their ongoing engagement with the organizationand its mission.

{ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS } 28∆